An Honest Defense of Burns

One brave (and lonely) soul defended Senator Burns in a comment about the Burns fire story at the Gazette. What struck me was just true the defense was, at least in part:

I personally have family members that have worked on forest fires and there is alot of wasteful spending and excessive down times. Burns sees first hand the excessive spending that is wasted by our government. Perhaps we could look at this from his perspective.

If anyone knows first hand about excessive government spending, it’s Conrad Burns. One thing most of us can agree on, though, is that paying people ten bucks an hour to defend homes, ranches and public lands from devastating fires isn’t wasteful.

Everyone except for the Senator seems to know that.

If you appreciate an independent voice holding Montana politicians accountable and informing voters, and you can throw a few dollars a month our way, we would certainly appreciate it.

About the author

Don Pogreba

Don Pogreba is an eighteen-year teacher of English, former debate coach, and loyal, if often sad, fan of the San Diego Padres and Portland Timbers. He spends far too many hours of his life working at school and on his small business, Big Sky Debate.
His work has appeared in Politico and Rewire.
In the past few years, travel has become a priority, whether it's a road trip to some little town in Montana or a museum of culture in Ísafjörður, Iceland.

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